Yogurt and Citrus Chicken or Turkey (with grilled vegetables):

Here's a tasty new recipe that we tried and really liked! I thought of Amy & Andrew when I saw the instructions, because it says to cook it on a George Foreman grill and that's what they have. We don't have one, so we cooked ours on a regular gas grill.

I'll link to the actual recipe, then tell you how we adapted it. It came from the April 2005 Oprah magazine (yeah, I have a hard time throwing magazines away-this one was hiding and I just rediscovered it.)

Here's a link to the original recipe on Oprah's site. The picture looks better online.

These are the ingredients:
2 lbs of 1/2 inch thick turkey cutlets
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
zest & juice of 2 large oranges
2 cups of plain lowfat yogurt
2 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
1/4 cup packed fresh mint leaves, chopped

Here's what we did. First off we tried it two times. Once with the turkey and once with chicken thighs (bone-in) and (boneless-skinless) chicken breasts.

When we used turkey:

1. First I grated the ginger and chopped the mint. I probably could have used more mint since the recipe says packed and I didn't pack it too much in the measuring cup.
   
2. I placed the cutlets in a plastic ziploc bag. Using a small bottle of unopened syrup (instead of the mallet or rolling pin), I pounded cutlets to around 1/2 inch thickness. I got tired of pounding to get them to 1/4 inch.
   
3. I forgot to season with salt & pepper, like the recipe said.
4. In a small bowl I combined orange zest and juice, yogurt, ginger and mint. Stirred until blended. Poured yogurt mixture into a large Tupperware container because there was too much to fit in a ziploc bag. Added turkey cutlets and turned to coat thoroughly. We were hungry, so instead of refrigerating 2 hours we went for about 20-30 minutes. (If I had waited any longer Terry would have eaten the whole bag of pretzels with dill dip - our appetizer.)
   
5. Since we didn't have a large panini griddle or Foreman grill, Terry preheated the gas grill to high. Removed cutlets from marinade, and allowed excess yogurt to drip off.
6. Terry placed all cutlets on a preheated grilling pan (with holes) set on top of the grill, covered and cooked until done, about 10 minutes or so.
   

The results were very tasty, although the pounding of the cutlets seemed to break them up and they weren't very pretty. We may have started out with some that were too thick to begin with.

When we used chicken:

1. We were able to skip the step about thinning the meat, which saved time. Unfortunately if you're using a panini or Foreman grill, you may have to do that for it to cook right. I'm not sure, since I haven't used either before.
   
2. I forgot to season with salt & pepper AGAIN, like the recipe said.
3. In a small bowl I combined orange zest and juice, yogurt, ginger and mint. Stirred until blended. Poured yogurt mixture into a large ziploc bag. Added chicken pieces and turned to coat thoroughly. This time we refrigerated overnight instead of the minimum prescribed 2 hours.
4. The next night, we preheated the gas grill to high. Removed chicken from marinade, and allowed excess yogurt to drip off.
5. Terry placed thigh pieces on the grill first, on indirect heat and cooked about 40 minutes, then added the boneless breasts and cooked on direct heat until done, about 10-15 minutes. They came off perfectly moist and flavorful.
   

The results were much better and absolutely delicious! The taste of mint and orange especially permeated the meat and was so fresh. This is definitely being added to our recipe box. This would be a good one for those watching their diet as well, since it's low cal, low fat and healthy, healthy!

We served the first meal with whole grain rice & sliced water chestnuts and fresh cut cantaloupe on the side. The second night we had fresh grilled vegetables as our side dish.

Maybe next time, if I actually USE the salt & pepper, they'll taste even better! We'll see...

MMMMMMM